Orlando Magic gear up for start of camp Friday

Six Orlando Magic players worked out at Amway Center on Wednesday as the beginning of training camp loomed Friday.

After the lockout's extended layoff, Coach Stan Van Gundy says he'll place a premium on giving players time to recover from practices.

"I don't think we'll be up-and-running quite as quickly," Van Gundy said. "Especially the first three or four days, we'll do some playing live and some contact, but we'll limit it a lot compared to what we normally do."

Instead, Van Gundy and his coaches will concentrate more on getting their system in place and getting players running up and down the court.

New sights

Commuters driving through the Goldenrod Road-University Boulevard intersection and the State Road 436-University Boulevard intersection are seeing some hoops-themed billboards these days.

Ryan Totka, an Orlando resident who started the StayDwight.com campaign, is urging the Orlando Magic to acquire Chris Paul, whatever the cost, and convince Dwight Howard to remain with the franchise for the long-term.

Totka and his friend William Davidson, the co-owner of Maxmedia Outdoor Advertising, have put BringChrisPaul.com digital billboards up. After the billboards were taken out of circulation to take the Magic's logo off the sign, the billboards went live again in rotation at around 2 p.m. Tuesday on three billboard façades.

"If Dwight was to leave, it would have a huge effect on the local economy," Davidson said.

Totka added: "The whole point is to bring in another superstar alongside Dwight to build a championship."

The image is up for 7.5 seconds at a time before another digital sign is displayed.

Davidson says having one sign in rotation on one billboard façade costs about $2,000 per month.

Totka and Davidson aren't paying that money since Davidson co-owns the company. But Davidson could be foregoing revenue by not using those 7.5 seconds per flip for a paying customer.

They said they consider their effort a public service. They said they hope it puts pressure on the Magic to make a big move that convinces Howard to remain with the team.

Deadspinned

Part of the questioning during Wednesday's press conference to formally announce Bob Vander Weide's decision to step down as the team's CEO revolved around the recent late-night phone conversation between Vander Weide and Howard, in which Howard reportedly thought Vander Weide was drunk.

Vander Weide said that he was not drunk, although he did have two or three glasses of wine at a social event before the conversation took place. He also said he first had received a text message and phone calls from Howard and felt it was "prudent" to return the call.

"You need to be clear on this: That phone conversation has not changed my relationship with Dwight," Vander Weide said.

"We like each other. We even love each other as people. He's always reached out to me. That phone call has not changed his feeling about this organization. And, third, and maybe not as important, that phone conversation has nothing to do with us being here today."

WFTV reporter Daralene Jones proceeded to read a supposed transcript of the conversation and asked Vander Weide if he had said those words.

But the conversation that Jones had referenced was taken from a parody written on the website Deadspin.

"I looked at Deadspin today," Jordan said. "Oftentimes, fact is sometimes is woven into satires. It's one of the techniques journalists sometimes use. Daralene did not report that he said something specifically. She just asked him to comment on something in cyberspace."